And They're Off!

Training wheels and Hannah and Griff.......riding on two wheels now. Got it in 10 seconds, no kidding. They have a bit of trouble starting off, but once they are going, they are gone!  Tomorrow we are off to buy Abby a new bike...she looks like a giant riding her current bike!


Trainers coming off......As Mike was taking them off I asked who wanted to go first. Hannah raised her hand and said "I do......I just want to get it over with!"  She was so nervous she could hardly stand it!

 I don't think Mike ever had his hands on her bike, other than to help her balance when she pushed off.

 Griff ran behind her the whole time. He was almost more excited than she was.

 Her she is celebrating her success!

 And then she wanted to get back on it was so much fun!

 Here's Griffy.  Mike was saying to him, "Just tell me when you want me to let go and I will."  But he wasn't ever holding on! Griff never knew :-)

And here they are playing with a "skip rope" Santa brought them.  It's a fun little toy and they all figured it out pretty quickly. Gotta jump FAST!

And Griff hula hoopin!

More Spring Fun

A little more catch and some soccer after dinner tonight. Lovin' the weather....

Screwing around and the ball got him in the knee.....

Spring Has Sprung

At least I hope it has....if I see a forecast of snow I might lose it :-)  Beautiful weather here lately, and this week is promising to be a record breaker....high 60s to mid 70s all week.  LOVE.  I saw two robins and one cardinal on my run OUTSIDE this morning. They seemed to like the mild March weather, too.

Hannah, Griff and Mike were outside playing catch after dinner.  Griff starts coach pitch baseball in a few weeks. Working on his arm....and attention span. He is much more interested in the dirt divots in the yard......  Hannah actually has quite an arm on her. Thinking she should be playing, too.

 Dirt Divot......

Abby collecting sticks for her lean-upon....whatever that is....something she learned from Laura Ingalls Camp I'm sure.

The kids had last Friday off of school.  Abby has been asking and asking to go to the Minnesota History Center so we decided to go. She went as a field trip in 2nd grade. I was under the misguided impression that it was a history center located in Minnesota, hence the name.  Nope. It was a history center of the history of Minnesota. Interesting, maybe, but not what I had in mind.  Certainly not the Natural History Museum or the Museum of Science and Industry.  These Minnesota kids are missing out.  Anyway....it killed a couple of hours.  Here are some pics.....

1950s Soda Shoppe

Assembly Line Education.....8 hours a day assembling these shells. They lasted 10 seconds.

 TVs from the 1950s

 Capital Building in St. Paul

Pin the Tail on the Donkey. They had a house replica from the 1950s, complete with kitchen, family room, dining room, bedrooms and the back yard. The kids thought pin the tail on the donkey was silly!  I told them I had it at every birthday party when I was little!

More Pictures from Hannah

This one is from Hannah to Abby. Hannah has lllooonnnnggg hair. The black and red lines through her hair are tons of little rubber bands :-) Abby is next to her. They are doing gymnastics. Their arms are up b/c that is how you land in gymnastics :-)

Hannah Love

Hannah made this for Griffin yesterday. So cute. 

Ice Ice Baby

Lots of ice time this weekend. Griffin had his hockey jamboree tournament and Abby had her ice show. Both of them did great and had a blast.  Below are some pictures from both. I wasn't on my best with the picture taking, so they are not great.....we also have video of both of them and are working on transferring to CD to mail to Grandmas and Grandpas.....be patient, it's coming!  I'll post a bit of it too, when it's ready.

Griff's White Lightening Team being introduced at the tourney. He is in the front with the white helmet.

The White Lightening Team

Griff was looking at the pictures I took and he was really irritated that I didn't get one picture of him with the puck.  He wants to make sure you know he did hit the puck and score a couple of goals during his games :-)

His trophy and new hat.  They had tons of vendors at the hockey tourney, one of which makes custom spray painted hats.  You can't go anywhere around here without seeing boys and girls with these (tacky) hats on.  We told Griff we'd get him one, fully expecting to get one with a  hockey theme....he'd have none of it, he wanted the one with the dirt bike...... and that is a shark painted on his face. They had face painting there, too :-)

Onto Abby and the ice show.......

In the locker room, waiting for her group to go out.....

Abby and her friend from school Madelyn

More ice skating friends

Her friend Sydney from skating lessons

 Her group dancing around the locker room

 So ready to go!

Behind the curtain, minutes before going out onto the ice. She has the purplish ribbon and is bending her knee.....

  She's right here....in the middle of the two silver poles

 Second girl with her leg up

 Almost in the spotlight..

Lunging with purple ribbon

 Caught mid-spin...unfortunately not facing us :-(

This was her second routine with the skating club.  She is right in the middle.

Skating photo from Skate Show 2012

Group 3, The Ribbonettes

Figure Skating Club